Contre Le Sexisme is the most hauntingly beautifully fucked up piece of music that Sonic Youth ever did, said nobody else ever. I love to play it loud at Halloween.

i like that one a lot too. its a great opener

hits of sunshine is just a bit dull, as it drags on and there's not much to it. repetition is good, but the song isn't really successful. compare it to some of yo la tengo's longer tracks, like "night falls on hoboken" -- that song maintains a level of tension and energy, where "hits" just kinda falls flat. ATL is top 3, tho

It's one of the most wonderful SY creations. Why I am telling this to a Yo La Tengo fan I don't know.

Have you listened to the track "Night Falls on Hoboken" ? ....they're not all that dissimilar. I'm no big Yo La fan, but the the two bands are somewhat comparable (sonic youth and yo la tengo)

I mean, I played the shit out of "Hits" back then.. but ultimately it just doesn't do much.

have you listened to SYR 2?

i love that riff.. it's sorta muddy (in comparison) on ATL, but still it's dope.

It is very haunting.. it has undertones of something menacing and tragic like bad acid

Is it safe to say that ATL is a concept album and also that everything flows perfectly in sync together as one composition?

It definitely has a very ''art gallery'' feeling to it. One that feels like it's not visited often. It doesn't sound like it was made by musicians as such either. A great accomplishment for any band.

I like that idea.. of the record being a kind of sonic "gallery walk".. feels apt

I think most of the SY-albums are less or more concept-albums.

Full shows from '98:

This playlist is all out of order, still kills: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...tVuaD8u6haOwMA

Euro Fest: https://youtu.be/HjmakcIP5x4

After listening again i dare say the jamming on Six Hits of Sunshine is waaaay more interesting than Diamond Sea.. and yeah i have a few recordings from the ATL tour they are epic

This is amazing! Never seen this before, I think it´s one of the best SY-lives in YouTube! Pure magic! Remembered also how I love Kim´s bass-playing, phaser in Hits & all, really different but great jam also in Hits. I really envy all of you who saw SY those days!

the live version posted here destroys the album version... the 'improvised' mid-section actually feels alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By513-dqyH8

Excellent quality live show from the era! 5/19/98 at the Ogden Theater, Denver.

After being a fan for nearly a decade at this point I finally got to see them live in this era... 1999 Hammerstein Ballroom NYC. After playing for nearly over a year just primarily ATL material (with encores consisting of shadow of a doubt and death valley) they played more variety of songs from their back catalog including what I believe their only live cover of DNA's "blonde redhead".